Jay Rose Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 From RCA's 1950 radio-TV equipment catalog, when Type P audio connectors were common. And the revelation that XLR connectors were designed to be the same diameter as a handheld mic? (Click image for fullsize.) And seven years later, RCA's audio catalog also included the UA... whose highlighted benefits included "splashproof"! My first station, after college, used all of these. And had boxes of pigtail adapters the engineering department soldered together, so we wouldn't get stuck on remotes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 I am somewhat relieved that I do not have to include my own personal experiences in this topic of "ancient" connectors! When I started out, pretty much everything had standardized on the XLR connector of the same general size and configuration that we're still using today. We did have several connections to deal with that required adaptor connectors/cables, many of them no longer in use today. Tuchel connectors, Preh connectors, banana jacks and plugs and a few others I have forgotten, most of them to accommodate equipment produced in other countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, etc.) that used different connectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Duffy Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 My University back in England had both a student TV station and student Radio station. The TV station had XLRs wired pin 3 hot, the radio station had pin 2 hot. Great fun convincing new students that we couldn't share XLR-XLR cables, and that the "other" wiring was inferior... (the real reason being rivalry, not technical). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 The production co I worked for in the late 1970s was all pin-3 hot, so I made all my first gear conform to that. Unpleasant surprises happened when I started working for other people, and especially when we had to combine gear for big shoots. Lots of on-site soldering, but the chief engineer of the prod co was certain that 3-hot was the correct way to go. When he left we had a big re-solder party... Owning a Nagra meant learning how to make a variety of Tuchel, banana, etc cable sets, esp since the 4.2 had so many I/O possibilities depending on what pins of which connector were hooked up. A particularly adapter-prone scenario involved trying to use early Teac mixers (Model 5, Model 3) with a Nagra, outboard compressors etc and VTRs all at the same time…. philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 Pin 3 hot made sense because the pin lay out is: 1......2 3 there had to be a reason it was changed to pin 2 hot and confuse everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 I thought it made sense too and was roundly ridiculed for that notion. Oh well. philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Davies Amps CAS Posted October 6, 2014 Report Share Posted October 6, 2014 In the UK these larger connectors were manufactured by two companies, ITT and Cannon who later joined forces. Both firms used the same designation for the connectors I.e. EP. EP 3 was sound as was EP 5 and 6. EP 4 was the TV station standard for AC mains wired pin 1 live. Pin 2 neutral and 3 and 4 was earth. I'm fairly sure that the 4pin is still used to this day whilst the 3 pin was replaced by XLR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted October 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Anybody remember the Los Angeles section giveaway at an AES convention, early 1990s? It was a small board with a spinner. You flicked the spinner and it went around, finally stopping on an one of the phrases that had been printed on the board. The phrases around the board were "pin 2 hot"... "pin 3 hot" ... "pin 2 hot"... "pin 3 hot" ... "pin 2 hot"... "pin 3 hot" ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Davies Amps CAS Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Pin 3 hot made sense because the pin lay out is: 1......2 3 there had to be a reason it was changed to pin 2 hot and confuse everything. Eric I think I can throw a bit of light on this. In the late 1960's The pin standard on a Nagra3 was 3 hot. The pin standard on XLR's in European TV was pin 2 hot. If I remember correctly it was something to do with the protocols set up by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). David Lane (RIP) who was the UK's leading Nagra guru talked Kudelski into changing things round so that Pin 2 was adopted by Nagra to be the hot pin and has been since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Eric I think I can throw a bit of light on this. In the late 1960's The pin standard on a Nagra3 was 3 hot. The pin standard on XLR's in European TV was pin 2 hot. If I remember correctly it was something to do with the protocols set up by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). David Lane (RIP) who was the UK's leading Nagra guru talked Kudelski into changing things round so that Pin 2 was adopted by Nagra to be the hot pin and has been since then. I would like to think that Kudelski chose pin 3 because of it's position at the apex of the triangle in an XLR. Makes perfect logical sense to me. If I'm not mistaken the mic input connector on a Nagra 3 was a right angle XLR-MALE so an XLR female to female short jumper was required. Someone once explained that to me but I can't recall the thinking behind that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Anybody remember the Los Angeles section giveaway at an AES convention, early 1990s? It was a small board with a spinner. You flicked the spinner and it went around, finally stopping on an one of the phrases that had been printed on the board. The phrases around the board were "pin 2 hot"... "pin 3 hot" ... "pin 2 hot"... "pin 3 hot" ... "pin 2 hot"... "pin 3 hot" ... That's great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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